Environment

Spring 2021 Update

May 9, 2021 in Aromatherapy / Biodiversity / Environment / Gardening / Markets / Natural Skin Care / Products by Kelli

I’m very happy to be starting the 5th growing season here in Canada. It seems like a lifetime ago, as always. The time passes so quickly and I am an ALL in person, committed and ready to love, heal, grow and give.

I plan to attend the Almonte Farmers Market again this year, from May 29th onward, but due to the pandemic the timing is not 100% guaranteed. But, you can reach out to me by email, Instagram, or Facebook and you can place an order in the webshop located within our website. I will continue to fill out the descriptions of products and oils blends and try to give as much information as I can. Following me on social media allows you to see any products as they become available and to see what I have growing (and all the wildlife). I ask that you reach out to me directly for any custom orders or needs. I have many healing hydrosols and resins of the forest. I am going to be restocking the lip salves and have a couple of neat things that are new like the Queen of Hungary tonifying spray and an educational sampler mix of truly Fair Trade Frankincense and Resins that will fund raise for the Global Frankincense Alliance that will be added in the shop as soon as we possibly can! I have struggled with what to do about the ethical use and trade of these precious and endangered resins and for now I will continue to make and sell the resin based boswellic acid-rich salves and oils for healing emotional, mental, and physical stress but I will donate 10% of the sales of these products to GFA and continue to source all resins from trusted Fair Trade Sources like Apothecary’s Garden – Dan Reigler and Floracopeia.

Floracopeia is a leader in Eco projects for sustainable harvesting and replanting projects and continues to be my number one trusted source for all essential oils (and some carrier oils) and I continue to learn from its founder David Crow through his many classes on herbs, Ayurvedic health, and essential oils.

I am also nurturing my own soul through education with wonderful teachers like Matthew Wood, Judith Hill, and Sajah Popham. I am growing as an herbalist and gardener through my relationship with the plants. When asked what brings me happiness or joy when I am at my lowest the answer is truthfully – the birds and the plants. The only time that I don’t have doubt is when I am working with them. That is slow time, breathe time, real time. So I crawl along this Spring (literally in the mud) and wait for my vaccine, desperately miss my granddaughter who turned 8 this April, and see my children through the 7th and 11th grades, while nourishing my significant others through great change and challenge and find joy in the Sandhill Cranes and Cardinal’s song each morning, the fox, the bears, the bees, the little sprouts pushing up, the wild ramps, the violets, the peepers, the turtles, and the snakes.

I am thankful to have this garden, If you are local and are interested in doing some work in trade for plants or herbs then feel free to contact us to see if we can make it happen. And of course this will be after the lockdown!

Acknowledging that all these lands are of Anishinabewaki and Algonquin peoples.

The Year Around

March 6, 2020 in Aromatherapy / Environment / Healing Herbs / Wild Harvest by Kelli

I try to engage with every transition. Sunrise, Sunset, the Moon, the Stars, The earth: the above and the below ground. But I am here on the ground observing. Sometimes time flies by but usually I have that little bit of awareness to slow it down and notice – notice the sky, the winter cattails, and that silver falcon I can’t seem to name. To notice the trees with their sliver slicing against the sky in all apparent states. And there are so many of them, different- but all together, providing so many different things and taking what they need and giving when they can. This is how I thrive in the crunch times, the whorling effect of all the things going on around, The effects of the common upon my triggers and the negative self talk I raised myself on. This is what I aim to do, Day in and day out, night in and night out, being present The Year Around. Asking for guidance and sharing, This week saw a transitioning season that brings a run of abundance. You need to be there physically to participate by emptying the buckets of sweet sap and plucking the full buds of sticky aromatic resin in the cold before their metamorphic change into leaves. I can only strive to be as transformational as this.

I offer aromatherapy and botanical infusions to others in hopes that they help anyone through the day, stay on track, rest, remain positive and hopeful, and thrive in joy. Aroma is an amazing transformation in itself, both as it arrives from the plant and as it enters your body and affects the 1 trillion scent receptors located all over and in the body. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20130710-how-our-organs-sniff-out-smells

I try to share with you the nature that has been shared with me and hope that you can use it to ease discomfort, lighten the load, and heighten the experience of joy. Many of us, for various reasons, experience a constantly overstimulated nervous system and soothing the receptors through Aroma and the senses, we can find our own paths through the forest.

Clary Sage overwintering in the double greenhouse

Rose Geraniums, Passionflower, Clary Sage — Rose Geraniums, Passionflower, Thyme, and Clary Sage overwintering in the pump house at 6-8 degrees Celsius.

Balsam Poplar

March 18, 2019 in Aromatherapy / Biodiversity / Environment / Healing Herbs / Wild Harvest by Kelli

Sticky and aromatic Balsam Poplar buds

Young Balsam Poplars

I have been looking for this tree, Populus balsamifera. I wanted to get to know it and make an oil with some of its buds, a traditional medicine. Today I found a small stand and have permission to harvest. The trees are a bit invasive where they are and so need to be managed and smaller ones removed so we can work together, a best case scenario! So grateful.

Rhythms of Life

January 15, 2019 in Environment / Markets by Kelli

In the weeks leading up to the Solstice I had a huge flurry of work to prepare for the upcoming markets. Each day I was aware of less and less light and more and more pressure [mostly that I put on myself] but still trying to breathe deeply and pace, enjoying all the sunrises and sunsets, birds, two foxes, deer, and my family at home. As soon as it was all over we took a vacation over the new year to Peaks Island, Maine, to be with the rest of my family. There I was enveloped in a boost of loving arms around me and the Rhythms of Sunrise and Sunset and Tides. Having all this together was a bit of healing for me and a lot of inspiration. Here’s a series of sunrise and sunset photos that we took on the island.

Sunrise on Peaks Island, ME — Sunrise 1 on Peaks Island, ME

Stay tuned for more of my Holiday and Gift sets to be put up on the Webshop for sale {we have been having some technical difficulties}. Please contact me via email if you have any questions about ordering something you see or saw at one of the markets.

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